SINGAPORE, Feb 8 - South Korea's Samsung C&T Corp has won the contract for engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) of Singapore's first liquefied natural gas terminal, Singapore LNG Corp Pte Ltd (SLNG) said on Monday.

The $1.05 billion LNG terminal will have an initial capacity of 3.5 million tonnes per year (tpy), slightly above past projections of 3.0 million tpy, with provisions to expand it to 6.0 million tpy or more if needed, Neil McGregor, executive director of SLNG told a news conference.

The completion of the LNG import terminal project is on track for early 2013, after it was deferred by a year, he said. Foster Wheeler will be the project management consultant, he added.

The Singapore government said in June last year it was taking over development of the terminal to avoid more delays due to the credit crunch.

The Energy Market Authority (EMA) formed SLNG to take over the project from a PowerGas-led consortium, which included GDF Suez.